Many years ago...

my guitar instructor said, "play me an A chord"..."play me another one"..."play me another one"....etc.
 
It is a very cool exercise if you're into that sort of thing.

I assume you mean in different fingerings

A mate of mine encouraged me to do that, just to learn the fretboard.

It worked for me.

Now you guys are getting all technical.

spacey


my guitar instructor said, "play me an A chord"..."play me another one"..."play me another one"....etc.
 
It is a very cool exercise if you're into that sort of thing.

The better trick is not just playing another A chord ... it's this:
 
Play me an A chord with hatred.
 
Play me an A chord with love.
 
Play me an A chord while getting hit by a Mack truck.
 
Play me an A chord like you love to stroke a kitty kat.
 
Play me an A chord with the same attitude that you do when you are practicing your A chord.
 
Play me an A chord with the attitude that you apply to yourself when you have to do some exercise to drop a pound or two.
 
... and on and on ...
 
The issue here is that each one of those is an A chord, but they will all feel differently ... and if you do that enough ... you WILL learn to play a guitar better than most people around you ... since most of them are just playing notes!
 
It's an excellent exercise in acting ... and it teaches you to "feel", rather than anything else ... and once you develop that inner feel, the rest is easy and just fun all around ...
 
(Hint ... can't cheat and use effects on this exercise!)

Play an "A" chord like you have a big _______

ericyeoman

Now you guys are getting all technical

Spoken like a true bass player.

I really think, and a lot of the music I listen to suggests it, that it is a lot less "technical" than we imagine ... it's much more "exploring" and then finding something that sounds good and right and feels better with the way you pick/feel the strings.
 
All the great players we emulate have a "feel" of their own ... and you can not acquire that on mechanics along ... which is hilarious when you see all these bass and guitar software things out there ... teach them nothing is the end result, and few people understand that fundamental difference between a lot of great players and everyone else. Most "great players" are very special because of the feel ... if you were to break down just the notes and chords they play ... it's fairly fundamental ... but how you adjust those to the feel you have is another story ... and what the exercise above is about.
 
Check out The Edge in "It's Gonna Get Loud" ... the notes themselves sound horrible. But learning to play them around the effects is another story!

rsp@odyssey.net


I'm trying to play an A Chord like I can understand Moshkie's post. I've even broken out the old Mel Bay books. Nothing!

Randy

 
Ache whored
 
 
Simples
 
 

I'm trying to play an A Chord like I can understand Moshkie's post.

He's saying emotion is an important factor in playing music and should be practiced too,
it's not just a bunch of theory.

I totally agree with that.

At least that's what I think he was saying

Moshkiae

spacey


my guitar instructor said, "play me an A chord"..."play me another one"..."play me another one"....etc.
 
It is a very cool exercise if you're into that sort of thing.

The better trick is not just playing another A chord ... it's this:
 
Play me an A chord with hatred.
 
Play me an A chord with love.
 
Play me an A chord while getting hit by a Mack truck.
 
Play me an A chord like you love to stroke a kitty kat.
 
Play me an A chord with the same attitude that you do when you are practicing your A chord.
 
Play me an A chord with the attitude that you apply to yourself when you have to do some exercise to drop a pound or two.
 
... and on and on ...
 
The issue here is that each one of those is an A chord, but they will all feel differently ... and if you do that enough ... you WILL learn to play a guitar better than most people around you ... since most of them are just playing notes!
 
It's an excellent exercise in acting ... and it teaches you to "feel", rather than anything else ... and once you develop that inner feel, the rest is easy and just fun all around ...
 
(Hint ... can't cheat and use effects on this exercise!)

Mosh...my reasoning is that one learns the chords to learn how they sound. In learning to create
the sound an artist will then learn which sound (chord) to "talk" or say something...to try and relate
an emotion.
So I guess we differ in the order. Understanding chord structure- structure on the fretboard (or instrument)
- sound recognition ( knowing when hearing what chord it is)- then the study of tension and release (chord progressions).
Many altered chords as well, not unlike modal or super imposing, can be hard for a musician to get a handle on...
takes time and practice.
One should become familiar with sound to expand their vocabulary. That is when they may be able to
express themselves more- to express with the emotions you mention and for them to be heard and felt
by others.
 
Well it makes sense to me as I've spent years trying to be able to....I see many more years (hopefully) of
trying to learn how to say whatever it is I need to say.
 
Above I mentioned "learn the structure"- there are many ways that guitarist learn this.
It may be "forms". It doesn't mean one has to learn theory or chord construction. I do believe
that learning theory is a highly excepted way to make learning easier. I also think that when
one believes that learning theory hampers creativity is wrong.
I've known many guitarist that learned many different ways. I've never found anything that indicates that a learning process determined a person's creativity. I've have however wondered how much more creative some
that I've known would have been had they learned music theory.
After all, the knowledge is a tool and much like a hammer- in the hand it's amazing what one may do with it while another will not as it is of no guarantee. The one that has that inner creativity will be the one that may make it work wonders.
 
I only wanted to share a fun exercise that will definately open doors.
Play an A.  and find how many you can play.
Play an Am  - how many can you play.
Play an A7 - how many can you play.
Play an A9  - how many...
Play an A maj7 - how many...
I'm sure I've made the exercise clear and hope it may be of help.
 
And don't feel bad if the only A7#9 you know is the Hendrix chord. Instead let it be
a reason to have some fun.
 
 

Perhaps you can post something you've done? You know, a recorded piece of music that you've played that exhibits this subject matter you speak of.

I'll be waiting.

Randy

Harsh? Nah, Strummy surely you remember my stump kicking days in the GT forum. Now that was harsh.

Randy

rsp@odyssey.net


Harsh? Nah, Strummy surely you remember my stump kicking days in the GT forum. Now that was harsh.

Randy

Yeah, but you gotta admit, it was fun.
Well, maybe not so much in the beginning, but after a while, i rather enjoyed sparring with ol' stumpy.

you guys are a little harsh on the Mosh. However, Mosh, you should really know a musician personally, and jam with them, before making the kind of generalizations you are making of "CH members" or whatever........ If you played an instrument you could probably jam with peeps?

Well this certainly went well.

Yeah, well, unfortunately it looks like some folks just have an axe to grind.

rsp@odyssey.net


Perhaps you can post something you've done? You know, a recorded piece of music that you've played that exhibits this subject matter you speak of.

I'll be waiting.

Randy

Randy ... I'm a writer and work with actors ... I have written a parallel situation that I have tried on stage and they work ... in the end, this is not about me. 
 
Here's the situation with actors on the stage. They know their lines and in rehearsal are still kinda throwing the line around, instead of saying it. You, the musician, have two choices (so to speak!) ... you just throw it out (just play it mechanically) ... or you sit there like many actors do, moving around 100 times trying to find the right phrasing that fits and makes it smoother all around.  (Even Bapu has mentioned that!) And in rehearsal, throwing in the proverbial sink, in other words, doing something totally different, and sometimes out of context, gives you the best example ... in the end, you don't look around the stage about how you feel and where you have to be to say it ... you accidentally find a way to say it that even covers the movement really well. It could even be something as stupid as ... picking up a cigarette in that ash tray that is not quite out ... but it fills out that little space a lot better ... instead of just doing something mechanical.
 
And how you appreciate and work with those bits and pieces is the difference between the good and the better.